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Published: July 11th 2019
I need to rewind back a few days, I wrote a blog two nights ago and it didn’t save!
I left you last with the question as to go back to Spiros for dinner or try the hyped-up restaurant ‘Giannoulis’ that always had a line of hungry tourists awaiting its dishes. I walk into Prokopios and ‘Giannoulis’ didn’t have a line around it yet. I was a little early for dinner, it was only 7pm. Dinner buzz starts closer to 8pm in Greece as sunset isn’t until 9:30. I took this as a sign that I should try ‘. ‘Giannoulis’. I should have gone with my gut-literally. Spiros was a better restaurant! Don’t get me wrong ‘Giannoulis’ was nice but definitely not worth the long wait that I could observe half way through my meal. I wanted the octopus, but the waiter encouraged me to try the stuffed squid- so I did. The same complimentary hummus and bread came with the squid and then Greek cake and ouzo after dinner that Spiros provided. I had thought Spiros was trying to spoil its customers so it too could have a queue of people waiting to get into his doors. It could
be a Naxian tradition for probably more likely a key competition strategy. I am going with the latter. The food at Spiros had more taste and freshness but the waiters at ‘Giannoulis’ were good looking which is a pleasant sight whilst enjoying dinner. I did like the presentation of the ouzo at ‘Giannoulis’ as it came in a gorgeous ceramic vase and a shot glass. Very Instagramable! It that a word now?
My third day in Naxos I took a boat tour around the Island with a company called ‘Jason’, which was also the name of the boat. I don’t know many Jason’s so the name hasn’t been tarnished in anyway and thought it would be a nice way to see the island from a different angle. The boat was a traditional wood vessel and seated roughly another 70 people. The staff were friendly and cooked a BBQ lunch on the boat. The smell of the chicken souvlaki cooking was heavenly. Nothing beats a BBQ! The tour consisted of five stops during the seven-hour tour, where me and fellow tour members jumped off the boat to swim for 30 minutes each stop. The water was divine, so
clean and a remarkable shade of turquoise. You could see the bottom of the sea bed from standing on the boat. The other 70-or so people consisted of families and couples-both old and young. Again, it provided great people watching opportunities. Everyone kept to themselves there was no sense of group bonding on this tour. Which I am fine with, the purpose of this trip is to relax and improve the practice self-love. The tour went quick- I am always hesitant doing a long tour but I don’t know if it was worth 50 Euros??? You never know until you try though. After the tour I was too tired to try a proper restaurant for dinner and opted for Letos’ souvlaki and kebab bar and ordered a chicken gyros and a Greek salad. The gyros have been good but not a great as the gyros at ‘Lucky’s’ in Santorini. I can’t wait to go back there in a few days. The owner nick named ‘Lucky’ is hilarious, he is always in the stop cooking whilst he is high as a kite on something and drinking beer. What a life! Making people happy by feeding them the world’s best gyros and
being inebriated. He has been working there for over 20 years. I highly recommend this joint!!!! If you don’t visit ‘Lucky’s’ you’re missing out!
The next day which is yesterday for me- I took the ferry to Mykonos- only 45 minutes from Naxos. The ferries are amazing in Greece nothing like the ones that operate in Sydney. These are five class and are really like a mini cruise ship with comfortable seats, air-conditioning, bathrooms, and cafes. The purpose of my trip to Mykonos was not to see the Island as I had visited the island in 2010 after my best friend’s wedding in Santorini (the beginning of my love affair with Greece and the surrounding countries- especially Turkey- my favourite country on the planet- do yourself a favour and please visit- you will thank me!), it was to meet up with friends. My friends are a fabulous gay couple who were spending five night in Mykonos and I thought why not meet up? They said they would meet me at the port. I offered to meet at their hotel as the days plan was to relax by their hotel pool and drink cocktails. But they
insisted to meet me at the port. I thought wow chivalry is not dead- well not in the gay world just in the hetro world. I arrived at the port with text messages on my phone from my friends saying that my ferry had docked at the ‘New port’ and they were at the ‘Old port’. Of course, there was more than one port- Murphy’s Law and a common scenario when traveling. This happened to me when I was in Rome travelling with the friend who got married in Santorini- pre marriage. We arrived at the airport for our flight to Berlin to find out we were at the wrong airport. It was our first time to Europe, and it hadn’t even dawned on us that cities could have more than one airport because Sydney doesn’t! Thank goodness we made our flight at the other airport thanks to our super speedy taxi driver. 180 km and a lot of praying in the back seat got us there 10 minutes before check-in closed. This wasn’t a major issue at all the ‘Old port’ was a five minute and 1.60-euro bus trip away. The buses in Greece are also nothing like the
Australian buses- they are actually air-conditioned coaches. There is no system like Opal yes you by your tickets on the bus- too easy. I literally walked straight into a bus with a sign in the window ‘Old port’ again is was too easy. As the bus or should I say coach pulled into the ‘Old port’ I could see my friends patiently sitting on a bench. When the bus stopped, they walked over to the bus door and greeted me as only ones do when they meet up with friends and family in another country. You are all buzzed with excitement and happiness- it is a real high. I had a fantastic experience the third time I went to Rome with an ex-boyfriend and met up with my brother and now sister-in law. We were just so happy to see each other and the gratitude we had to be experiences the delights of Italy together was incredible. Great prosecco and Italian cobble stone street walk memories with them! Back to Mykonos- we walked through Mykonos town soaking up with beautiful streets and the bustling atmosphere, past the iconic Mykonos wind-wills which are very run down and past 'Little Venice' a
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My special off the menu cocktail is on the left. cute part of Mykonos town that looks like its name. Mykonos is like a post card-second to Santorini and includes beautiful beaches, plenty of bars, clubs and restaurants- the choice for these services is endless. We finally we made our way back to their hotel and more importantly hotel pool and bar. This pool had a 180 view of Mykonos harbour and town- it was stunning! Every time I looked over at the view I was surprised by its beauty as if for some reason I thought the view wouldn’t last like a sand hour glass. But no, the view is always there. Everything about this hotel was lush and 80 percent of its cliental are gay and they know how to do style. Chilled music played and deckchairs and umbrellas dotted around the pool, with a large bar at the end of the pool opposite the view. Bar at one end and a view at the other- perfect. The cocktails were very pricy- 16 euro! Nearly 30 Aussie dollars! I thought I’ll have one cocktail and then switch to wine which is a more reasonable price of 6 Euros. When reading the drinks menu at the bar the bar tender offered if he could recommend a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu. I said maybe- at 16 Euros it needed to be a damn good drink. He went on the say that if I didn’t like it, that he would drink it and I could pick something else. My friends had already ordered their usual, grapefruit spritz and were already tanning their bods in their tiny Speedos. The bar tender told me to go back to the pool lounge and he would bring it over me where I could taste it and then if I did like it, I could come back and pay. When I tried the cocktail is was delicious- I am very picky with my cocktails so he did very well to please me. The cocktail consisted of gin, elderflower, lime juice and another liquor that I hadn’t heard of and can’t remember. It was strong- and for 16 Euros it had better of been! Slightly surprised still I went back to the bar to pass over my Euros and to give the bar tender the accolades he deserved. When I undressed and into my one-piece swim suit that was under my clothes- one of my friends said wow that is a lot of material! These boys love getting their bods out as well as the rest of the extremely trim gay men around the pool. This pool bar was so lush that staff walked around offering with ice-cold face towels to make one feel important and to cool off in the strong Mykonos heat. The sign with the pool uses times stated 7 am- 1pm a vast difference to the pool hours at my Naxos hotel of 10:30am- 7:30pm. Don’t get me wrong Naxos has some wonderful bars, but Mykonos just screams ‘party time’. My friends for instance got home at 4am the previous night in comparison to my home time of 10:30pm! Next round my friends order their spritz’s and I ordered a glass of white wine. One of my friends insisted that he pay for my drink. I said thank you and that I should have ordered a cocktail- quite tipsy from the off the menu cocktail. A waiter appeared without three drinks and when loading them off the tray onto the table he spilt my entire wine over my friend who had kindy paid for my drink. The waiter was mortified as this was a swanky establishment and gave us another round of drinks on the house. Winning!!! The thing I like about Greece and most European countries is that when you order a drink you also receive nuts, chips or crackers with it. Best idea! Once cocktail, two wines, lots of nuts (the snack) and many laughs I left the pool to head back to Naxos. I arrived back into Naxos at 8pm and felt a sense of home- it’s funny how quickly humans adapt to their new surrounding on holidays. You get into a routine, you put your belongings in particular spots in the hotel room and you sometime call it ‘home’. Naxos seems more laid back and a teeny bit better on the eye as well. I did what I do whenever I have a final night in a location and got out for dinner to bide farewell. The ferry port is in Naxos Town and there is an array of great eating spots. I had the octopus I wanted the other night from a restaurant called ‘Zorbas’- the food was so so – very chewy, but that’s the experience of travel you can’t always find a winner of a restaurant- it’s the luck of the draw. I thought visiting a restaurant called 'Zorba's' was a rite of passage that one should do in Greece but I guess not. One thing I did notice about Naxos was the lack of Aussies on the island, I did not come across one!
Today I have departed from Naxos and I am on the ferry on my way to Santorini (two-hour ferry trip). I am excited to holiday on the island for the third time. The first time as I said earlier in the blog was for a wedding, the second time was with an ex-boyfriend, this time I am going back to re-claim the island and mark my territory. Sorry my blog is a bit of a snore- this trip is just for eating and relaxing.
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